For two consecutive days starting Wednesday, KNB agents have
interrogated Makushina at their headquarters in Almaty in connection with a
press conference Monday at which Makushina spoke in defense of Igor
Vinyavsky, imprisoned editor of the independent weekly Vzglyad, she told CPJ. The agents told Makushina they were questioning
her and other panelists from the press conference after an unnamed attendee
filed a complaint alleging that extremist materials were distributed at the
venue.

Makushina spoke at the press conference along with
Vinyavsky's wife, Lana Vinyavskaya, and lawyer Sergey Utkin. All three panelists
disputed the legality of imprisoning Vinyavsky, who was detained as part of an ongoing
crackdown by the KNB on critical media and opposition activists. The KNB claims
that Vinyavsky authored a leaflet in April 2010 which it has branded anti-constitutional;
Vinyavsky denies the allegations. Makushina and the other panelists distributed
the leaflet at their press conference.

Makushina told CPJ that KNB agents interrogated her about
the organizers of the press conference, reasons for her participation, the
source of the leaflet, the charges against Vinyavsky, and who distributed the
materials at the press conference. The agents, Makushina said, also interrogated
her about her personal Skype account and how she uses it to contact her sources
and colleagues.

Following her interrogation today, three KNB agents produced
a warrant to search the newsroom and accompanied Makushina there, where they
confiscated the weekly's main printer and a personal laptop belonging to Golos Respubliki's office manager, which
were used to print the materials for the press conference.

"We call on the Kazakh security service to immediately stop
harassing Oksana Makushina, return her newspaper's equipment, and allow her and
other independent journalists in Kazakhstan to do their work without fear of
reprisal," CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova said.
"We also continue to call for the release of Igor Vinyavsky, who was imprisoned
on unfounded extremist charges last month."

The leaflet, published by the regional press following
Vinyavsky's arrest, carries a photograph of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev
with the caption: "Kyrgyzstan got rid of the robbing
family of [ousted President Kurmanbek] Bakiyev. Enough tolerating, take [him]
to the dumpster!" According to Makushina, there has been no court ruling
establishing that the leaflet's text constituted extremism.

Makushina said unnamed security agents called
her Tuesday and asked her to come to the KNB headquarters for what they called
"a conversation" the same day, but she insisted they send her a summons. The
next day the agents called her around 3:30 pm and asked her to visit the KNB,
saying she would be given a written summons at the agency. The document she was
handed at the KNB did not contain any information on Makushina's status, nor
reasons for her requested visit to the agency, she told CPJ.